The King's Metal: Gold, Power, and the 5,000-Year Reign of Wealth

A Metal Born of Stars, Coveted by Kings

Long before there were banks, before paper money, before even the concept of a nation-state, there was gold.

Forged in the violent crucibles of dying stars and scattered across the earth by meteorites, gold has captivated human beings for at least 5,000 years. Unlike any other substance, it is rare, indestructible, and beautiful—a perfect vessel for value.

From the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs to the temples of ancient India, gold wasn’t just money—it was divine. In every ancient culture, those who controlled gold controlled power. Kings hoarded it. Priests adorned their gods with it. Empires were built on it.

Gold has always been more than a commodity. It has been a symbol of permanence in a world of chaos. And today, with global equities crashing, gold is touching new all-time highs, proving again it can protect purchasing power better than anything else. But to understand why central banks are buying gold in record quantities today, let’s start at the beginning.

Gold as Money

Around 600 B.C., King Alyattes of Lydia minted the first known gold coins. They standardized value, enabling trade at scale. Trust in gold became trust in commerce itself.

Rome built its empire on a gold and silver standard. Its debasement of currency—mixing base metals into coins—is widely considered one of the causes of its fall. History was writing a lesson in real time: when trust in money collapses, so too does civilization.

During the Middle Ages, gold was rare and prized. By the Renaissance, it underpinned banking empires from Florence to Amsterdam. Then came the rise of global empires—Spain, France, Britain—each sustained, at least in part, by gold plundered, mined, or traded across continents. Their currencies all relied on gold – it gave their currency confidence.

Gold financed wars. Gold-backed all major currencies. Gold defined the monetary order.

The Gold Standard and the American Century

By the 19th century, the world had settled into a new form of gold-based order: the classical gold standard. Britain led the charge, pegging its pound to gold and requiring convertibility.

In 1900, the United States officially adopted the gold standard, fixing the dollar to gold at $20.67 per ounce. This ushered in decades of monetary stability—but one increasingly challenged by war, depression, and the costs of empire.

World War I disrupted the gold standard. World War II ended it. In 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement created a hybrid: currencies were pegged to the U.S. dollar, and the dollar was pegged to gold.

This effectively handed the U.S. control of the global monetary system. The dollar became the world's reserve currency—but only because it was still, at least partially, a claim on gold.

That illusion ended in 1971.

Nixon Closes the Gold Window

Faced with mounting inflation and a run on U.S. gold reserves, President Richard Nixon did the unthinkable. He "temporarily" suspended gold convertibility.

The dollar was no longer backed by anything.

For the first time in modern history, the world operated on pure fiat. Trust, not metal, now underpinned value. But trust is fragile, and gold never went away. It just slipped underground—into vaults, reserves, and the minds of those who remembered. And its price soared, from $35 per ounce in 1971 to about $800 in 1980 the market set the price.

Gold in the Shadows

From 1980 to the early 2000s, gold lost favor in the West. Central banks sold it. Financial engineers scoffed. Gold was a "barbarous relic," a metal without yield in a world drunk on leverage.

But outside the spotlight, a quiet accumulation began.

China. Russia. Turkey. India. These nations remembered gold’s power and still do today. They understood that in a world of weaponized finance, sanctioned banking systems, and volatile currencies, gold is beyond reach. It is unhackable, apolitical, eternal.

By the 2010s, gold was reemerging—first as insurance, then as strategy. Following the Great Recession in 2008 and the debt ceiling debacle in 2011, gold soared to above $1,900 per ounce.

Central Banks Buying Spree

2022 and 2023 marked a turning point. Central banks around the world bought more gold than at any time since records began. Over 1,100 tonnes were added in 2022 alone. China resumed monthly disclosures. Developing nations raced to diversify reserves. Central banks add 1,045t to global gold reserves in 2024 –the third consecutive year of more than 1,000 tons of annual purchases.

https://www.gold.org/goldhub/research/gold-demand-trends/gold-demand-trends-full-year-2024/central-banks

Why now?

Because the geopolitical order is fracturing. Trust in U.S. fiscal policy is fraying. And the dollar, once the undisputed king, is now seen as vulnerable. The U.S. dollar was down 2% today alone – an astonishing move for the world reserve currency.

Gold is no one’s liability. It requires no promise, no counterparty. In a world increasingly defined by chaos (just look at the markets in April of 2025), gold is the escape hatch, representing safety.

A New Monetary Cold War

Gold is now at the center of a silent war.

BRICS nations are calling for a new reserve currency. Sanctions have weaponized the dollar. And the petrodollar system, built in the 1970s, is quietly eroding.

In this vacuum, gold is being repositioned not just as a hedge—but as a foundation. A backstop. Perhaps even a bridge to a multipolar monetary world.

Russia has pegged its domestic gold price. China has built massive gold reserves behind closed doors. The Shanghai Gold Exchange is gaining relevance.

This is not theory. It is based on fact and reality. Now, on April 10th, with US equities, bonds, Bitcoin, and the U.S. dollar all in free fall, gold is up nearly 4% and has become the asset of last resort.

Gold is Having a Moment

Gold recently touched all-time highs in U.S. dollar terms – hitting $3,193.80 on April 10th 2025. Yet its movement feels curiously restrained given the scale of risk in the system. That’s not complacency—that’s pressure building.

As the U.S. grapples with over $36 trillion in debt, rising interest payments, and eroding international confidence, gold is building momentum.

It doesn't need marketing. It doesn’t need yield. It doesn’t even need trust. Gold is trust.

Gold is Trust

Your audience understands volatility. They thrive in it. But even the most aggressive speculators know that capital preservation matters.

Gold is the only asset that has survived every regime change, every war, every hyperinflation, every reset.

It is not an investment. It is a stance. A vote of no confidence in unsound money. And a passport when the system fails.

As central banks buy, as governments overreach, and as currencies wobble, gold isn’t just back. It never left.

The only question is: do you hold enough?

The Eternal Metal

Empires rise. Fiat currencies fall. Markets crash. Confidence evaporates.

But gold endures.

The world may not return to a gold standard. But make no mistake: the kings of tomorrow are already buying the king's metal today. The old adage that “whoever holds the gold makes the rules” is true today just like it was 5,000 years ago.

In the end, those who hold gold will hold the power and the freedom.